Rating Articles at Helium.com -- How to Rate and Win

Earn Money with Helium.com

If you are a member of Helium.com, then you know that in order to earn money with Helium.com. you must have a rating star. It does not matter how well your articles are written, if you do not have a rating star, you will not earn anything!

Rating Stars

In order to have a rating star, you must rate at least 10 articles a month, 30 withing the last 90 day, and have a rating score of at least 75%. If you have five rating stars, you will earn a bonus of $3/month.

"Earn by rating! Because rating is critical to the community and the success of Helium, we want to reward our star raters. If you have 5 rating stars on the last day of the month, you will be paid a $3 Rating Bonus." - Helium.com

Five Stars

To yearn five stars, one has to have completed 500 rates, with a minimum score of 75%, or 300 rates, with a minimum score of 85%.

Notice: If your percentage is below 67%, then it doesn't matter how many articles you rate, you will not earn a star.

Helium.com Rating Chart:

What Helium.com Says -vs- My Experience

They say...

"The 90-day and 30-day periods are evaluated daily for the prior 30 and 90-day periods. The evaluation that results in the most stars will determine how many rating stars you have earned. Example: If you qualify for 1 rating star in the last 30 days but no rating stars in the last 90 days, we’ll base your stars on the 30-day numbers. If you qualify for 2 or more rating stars in the 90-day period and only 1 in the 30-day period, your stars will be based on the 90-day period." -Helium.com

...but my experience has not shown this to be true. I found that if I did not maintain the 30 day star, then I made no money -- no matter how high my 90 day score was!

I started experimenting -- I wasn't earning anything, after all -- to find out how to rate articles quickly and get a high score. With in the last two weeks, I have taken my 30 day score from 60% to 85%.

Win At Rating

When rating, your goal is to quickly find the best article. To do well, only rate the articles where one is clearly better than the other.

Contrary to what is said above the two articles you are rating, the first goal is not to decide which article is more relevant to the title. The first goal is to decide which article is more aesthetically pleasing.

My score June 22, 2009.

How to Rate

The rating score is comprised of how your ratings compare to how others rate the articles. You will never have a 100%, because not everyone is going to rate the articles the same.

Look at the spacing between paragraphs in both articles. Are they both spaced properly?

If not, the one that has proper spacing is "By Far" more valuable. If neither is spaced properly, then skip.

Look at the punctuation, capitalisation and use of quotation marks. Are they used correctly, and is the spacing after a punctuation mark correct?

if there is NO space after commas,or the Quotation marks are on the "outside",of the punctuation,then the other article is "by Far",more Valuable.

Notice how poorly that last sentence reads.

Look for headings. Did one use headings? It is "By Far" more valuable.

If both articles have headings, which one's headings help you to quickly find the information that is relevant to the title? It is "More" valuable.

Look for consistency. Are all of the headings done in the same manner? Did the writer use bullets, dashes and numbers in a consistent manner? It is "By Far" more valuable.

Look at the length. Helium likes longer articles, but make sure that the longer one is not a rambling rant. When rating recipes, more is better, as long as the recipes go with the title!

Also consider the length of paragraphs. On-line, 2-6 sentences in a paragraph is considered ideal.

Look at the links. If links are used, are they used appropriately or are they tacked on? If a website is given, is it linked or just written out? I always rate the one with active links as "More" valuable.

If both articles pass the "pleasing the the eyes" test, then it is time to read the articles.

My score June 25, 2009.

My score, July 1, 2009.

Read the first sentence. Does it have a positive or negative overtone? One with a positive overtone is "More" valuable than one with a negative over tone.

Read the last paragraph. Did the author follow up on the beginning sentence to close the argument or finish the thought? Then it is "By Far" more valuable.

Read for word usage and spelling. These are on-line articles. Small familiar words are better than long words, unless the longer word is appropriate, because of the technicality of the subject.

Only rate down for spelling if it is very obvious, sush sa typo's. Your spelling ability may not be as good as you assume it is.

The article as a whole. Which one are you more likely to find in a magazine? It is "More" valuable.

If both articles are well written, skip! It is not your job to make a decition.

Rating Leapfrogs

When rating leapfrogs, I follow the same pattern as listed above. I look for obvious differences only -- if the author did not noticeable rewrite, then it is not worth my time to try to find their little bitty changes. If I see typos or other obvious problems, I mark the articles as "Same."

In the past I have gone through leapfrogs, line by line, trying to find the differences, without success. Then I discovered that you earn an up-front bonus for leapfrogs whether they are accepted or not, so I am assuming that many of the leapfrogs are submitted, just to earn an extra dollar or two.

Comments

No HTML is allowed in comments, but URLs will be hyperlinked. Comments are not for promoting your articles or other sites.

sending

AUTHOR

Ivorwen

6 years agofrom Hither and Yonder

I really can't answer your question.

I have not used Helium in over a year. With a number of high rated articles, I only earned about $5 from the views in a years time. The money real money I made from Helium came from selling articles through the marketplace section of the site.

Personally, I would recommend sticking with a site like HubPages or a personal blog, where you retain ownership of your work.

Ashish Joshi

6 years agofrom India

I've also just joined helium. And posted 4 articles there. Three of them are poems. Can i expect to earn something from them? If yes, how much could it be? It's been 4 days and all the articles are rated in the top 5 currently.

AUTHOR

Ivorwen

8 years agofrom Hither and Yonder

Good luck to you John. I am not a huge fan of the system either, but I know that some people do really well there, and since you like writing there, I hope that you may be one of them!

johnshade

8 years agofrom Pandora

my god! thank you so much for this I have searched everywhere for a clear explanation even on helium itself. im not a fan of the system but i like writing for helium thanks a bunch!

AUTHOR

Ivorwen

9 years agofrom Hither and Yonder

Your right, Gabriella, it is not fair to the writers in many ways, and yet, when you are submitting to a magazine, sloppy work is going to be rejected right away, without being read.

Gabriella D'Anton

9 years agofrom Los Angeles, Ca

Thank you Ivorwen for bringing light to the scary rating system of Helium.

I have seen on the forum messages posted by people who admitted they give a minute to on article and rate it up or down based on format as well as first and last sentence.

To me it is unconscionable to do that to fellow writers (who definitely spent more than 1 minute to write an article). I am probably the only idiot that actually reads both articles, compares information value based on research or professional experience, organization of the material, style, originality and so on.

I have to admit; Helium does not deserve that kind of work and effort, so from now on I will rate just like both you and Marisa said. Will see what happens…

AUTHOR

Ivorwen

9 years agofrom Hither and Yonder

After your recent experience, I can understand why. :)

debugs

9 years agofrom Odessey777, Umbris

If both articles pass the "pleasing the the eyes" test, then it is time to read the articles.

---------------------------------------------

This made me laugh! Great article! I wonder what pleasing to the eyes test REALLY is...

AUTHOR

Ivorwen

9 years agofrom Hither and Yonder

That's all you need to get paid!

Philip

9 years ago

Thank you so much. Found out that mine is just 1...=P

AUTHOR

Ivorwen

9 years agofrom Hither and Yonder

Philip,

Your rating stars are found on under 'My Helium' on the tool bar at the top of the page. If you click on that, it will show you what your star ratings are and what percentage you are at.

Good luck to you!

Philip

9 years ago

Thanks a lot. I always wondered why I got no money after earning 5$. But I have a question. How exactly do you find out our rating star? I really want to know mine but I just can't find it. Please help.

beth811

9 years agofrom Pearl of the Orient Seas

Thanks for all your comments here.

I like helium more than any other sites(hubpages and triond). In helium, I have 1 article there and as I checked my earnings, I earned 5.01$ in the span of 1 week. This made me publish more articles there. I could hardly believed it because as I compared my earnings in triond which I have, I think, 5 articles there, I only earned .23$ in 1 week while in hubpages I got ZERO.

I had just registered in these 3 sites barely 2 weeks ago.

So, I think I will concentrate more there in helium.

AUTHOR

Ivorwen

9 years agofrom Hither and Yonder

LOL. Sorry I misunderstood you Marisa. Come to think of it, I always rate while doing other things too, so I'm not sitting there waiting for the page to load.

Thank you for coming back, and setting me straight. I'm sure your comments will be helpful to others also. =D

Kate Swanson

9 years agofrom Sydney

Ivor, my main point was related to the importance of restricting the number of rates you do, and of fooling the rating engine into thinking you're taking a long time on each rate. I spent half an hour a month rating, not half an hour a night! The only time I've lost my star is when I went on holiday and forgot to do my monthly session.

However, poor English is at the top of my list when I decide which one I like best. No matter how good the content, if it's poorly articulated and there are clear errors, I rate it down.

AUTHOR

Ivorwen

9 years agofrom Hither and Yonder

Jerilee, thanks for coming by! I understand. When I began with Helium, I spent 1/2 hour each evening, rating. Just to make sure I had the star...

AUTHOR

Ivorwen

9 years agofrom Hither and Yonder

Marisa Wright, Thank you for commenting. I know this looks complicated, but when I chose the one I liked better, I often didn't prefer the better written article. When I am reading for my own enjoyment, I often find the articles that I really like are 2/3 of the way down the list. Don't know if it is my sense of humor or what... often they do have grammatical errors...

I wish I could rate that way, but it didn't work out for me. My sister and I both began rating by which article we liked best, I maintained a star, but her score kept falling and falling.

I had to realize that rating was first and foremost about which article was 'best' for publication in a mainstream glossy magazine.

Jerilee Wei

9 years agofrom United States

I started out on Helium but found it very tedious to rate articles that I had zero interest in reading. I do find that your tips are excellent advice.

Kate Swanson

9 years agofrom Sydney

I think you're making rating too complicated. I believe I've cracked the rating algorithm. I just pick the article I like best - but I take my time doing it. A long time ago, when I first joined Helium, there was a rumour that time was a factor in the rating algorithm, and I still think it's true.

I only rate the minimum each month - 10 rating pairs. I bring up the rating screen, then go off and do something else (like writing a HubPage!) for a few minutes. Then I go back and press the submit button. I repeat that for the regulation 10 times, making my rating decision fairly quickly, but leaving the rating screen up for several minutes each time. I never fail to maintain my one rating star, and I've been using that system ever since the rating requirement came into force.

AUTHOR

Ivorwen

9 years agofrom Hither and Yonder

Thanks Tom. Besides blogging, Helium was the first place I ever published anything. If it wasn't for the success I had over there, I would never have had the confidence to jump in here. However, I much prefer my time spent here and the control I have over my articles!

Tom rubenoff

9 years agofrom United States

I was always daunted by Helium's interface. Maybe I'll try again now that you've shown me a system.

AUTHOR

Ivorwen

9 years agofrom Hither and Yonder

Thanks Jarn. Glad I could help.

Jarn

9 years agofrom Sebastian, Fl

Very informative. I never knew that about Helium... Perhaps that's why I never made any money posting work there. Good to know. Thanks alot.

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

This is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)

Google AdSense Host API

This service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)

This is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)

Facebook Login

You can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)

Maven

This supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)

We may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.

Conversion Tracking Pixels

We may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.

Statistics

Author Google Analytics

This is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)

Comscore

ComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)

Amazon Tracking Pixel

Some articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)